Kaye
Kaye was given to 18 girls in 2025, #6,441 among girls’ names; 13,707 Americans have been recorded with it since 1901 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 8,800 Americans named Kaye and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (64% of everyone recorded); the median is 71 years old and half are between 63 and 79.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kaye by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Kaye mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Kaye is “a female given name, variant of Kay.”
Also “a male given name transferred from the surname.”
/ˈkeɪ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Kaye?
#6,441 among girls’ names, 2025
Kaye rose from #7,435 in 2015 to #6,441 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 9.0 to 11.2 per million.
547 babies in 1947, the peak
Kaye peaked in 1947, when 547 babies were given it (538 girls, #344 among girls’ names). The 18 births of 2025 are 3% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 18 | #6,441 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 11 | #9,237 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 7 | #12,790 | under 0.01 |
| 2022 | 15 | #7,455 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 13 | #8,258 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 10 | #9,903 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 13 | #8,361 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 10 | #10,180 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 8 | #12,197 | under 0.01 |
| 2016 | 8 | #12,312 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (119)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 16 | #7,435 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 10 | #10,536 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 10 | #10,620 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 10 | #10,833 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 5 | #18,178 | under 0.01 |
| 2010 | 11 | #10,119 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 7 | #14,455 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 14 | #8,737 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 9 | #12,143 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 13 | #8,986 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 14 | #8,099 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 16 | #7,236 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 14 | #7,780 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 16 | #6,866 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 13 | #7,964 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 22 | #5,225 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 14 | #7,023 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 14 | #6,884 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 26 | #4,174 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 16 | #5,914 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 17 | #5,557 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 19 | #5,124 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 30 | #3,627 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 18 | #5,370 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 25 | #4,121 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 30 | #3,562 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 30 | #3,430 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 43 | #2,503 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 29 | #3,211 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 31 | #3,011 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 29 | #3,122 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 27 | #3,185 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 42 | #2,288 | 0.03 |
| 1982 | 45 | #2,232 | 0.03 |
| 1981 | 46 | #2,214 | 0.03 |
| 1980 | 52 | #2,029 | 0.03 |
| 1979 | 33 | #2,695 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 40 | #2,287 | 0.03 |
| 1977 | 32 | #2,635 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 38 | #2,225 | 0.03 |
| 1975 | 39 | #2,182 | 0.03 |
| 1974 | 38 | #2,154 | 0.03 |
| 1973 | 51 | #1,744 | 0.03 |
| 1972 | 59 | #1,572 | 0.04 |
| 1971 | 75 | #1,409 | 0.05 |
| 1970 | 90 | #1,243 | 0.05 |
| 1969 | 130 | #934 | 0.08 |
| 1968 | 119 | #950 | 0.07 |
| 1967 | 135 | #877 | 0.08 |
| 1966 | 118 | #934 | 0.07 |
| 1965 | 170 | #760 | 0.10 |
| 1964 | 217 | #704 | 0.11 |
| 1963 | 235 | #660 | 0.12 |
| 1962 | 278 | #599 | 0.14 |
| 1961 | 315 | #561 | 0.16 |
| 1960 | 291 | #579 | 0.14 |
| 1959 | 262 | #613 | 0.13 |
| 1958 | 332 | #531 | 0.17 |
| 1957 | 342 | #517 | 0.17 |
| 1956 | 350 | #499 | 0.17 |
| 1955 | 347 | #486 | 0.18 |
| 1954 | 388 | #446 | 0.20 |
| 1953 | 361 | #454 | 0.19 |
| 1952 | 374 | #443 | 0.20 |
| 1951 | 417 | #405 | 0.23 |
| 1950 | 364 | #418 | 0.21 |
| 1949 | 387 | #406 | 0.23 |
| 1948 | 428 | #384 | 0.25 |
| 1947 | 538 | #344 | 0.30 |
| 1946 | 479 | #342 | 0.30 |
| 1945 | 443 | #324 | 0.34 |
| 1944 | 443 | #323 | 0.33 |
| 1943 | 475 | #322 | 0.34 |
| 1942 | 397 | #351 | 0.29 |
| 1941 | 389 | #335 | 0.32 |
| 1940 | 355 | #341 | 0.31 |
| 1939 | 323 | #363 | 0.29 |
| 1938 | 267 | #411 | 0.24 |
| 1937 | 241 | #416 | 0.23 |
| 1936 | 189 | #468 | 0.18 |
| 1935 | 119 | #599 | 0.11 |
| 1934 | 99 | #673 | 0.09 |
| 1933 | 66 | #824 | 0.07 |
| 1932 | 55 | #961 | 0.05 |
| 1931 | 49 | #1,005 | 0.05 |
| 1930 | 34 | #1,306 | 0.03 |
| 1929 | 15 | #2,249 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 25 | #1,652 | 0.02 |
| 1927 | 25 | #1,700 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 40 | #1,233 | 0.03 |
| 1925 | 35 | #1,358 | 0.03 |
| 1924 | 28 | #1,629 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 36 | #1,315 | 0.03 |
| 1922 | 30 | #1,522 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 34 | #1,387 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 25 | #1,681 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 34 | #1,338 | 0.03 |
| 1918 | 22 | #1,780 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 18 | #1,959 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 27 | #1,423 | 0.03 |
| 1915 | 16 | #2,001 | 0.02 |
| 1914 | 15 | #1,782 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 17 | #1,434 | 0.03 |
| 1912 | 20 | #1,196 | 0.04 |
| 1911 | 6 | #2,333 | 0.01 |
| 1910 | 6 | #2,285 | 0.02 |
| 1909 | 6 | #2,086 | 0.02 |
| 1903 | 6 | #1,691 | 0.02 |
| 1901 | 6 | #1,570 | 0.03 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Kaye a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 13,707 Americans recorded as Kaye, 96% are girls and 4% boys. Girls have outnumbered boys among babies named Kaye every year since 1933. In 2025 it went to 18 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Kaye: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kaye, and how old are they?
8,800 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 64% of the 13,707 Americans ever recorded as Kaye. The median Kaye alive today is 71 years old; half are between 63 and 79.
The 2020 Census counted 10,908 people named Kaye (10,684 women and girls, 224 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 10,031 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 1,730 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 5,120 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,120 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 463 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 215 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 148 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Kaye born?
The states with the most babies named Kaye are Michigan, Texas and Ohio, with 21% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | 847 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Texas | 701 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 592 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 591 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Wisconsin | 542 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Illinois | 513 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| California | 509 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Utah | 468 | not ranked | 5.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 451 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Minnesota | 392 | not ranked | 1.3× |
Where Kaye is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Kaye is most over-represented in Utah: since 1910 it was given 5.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Kaye with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 195,666 babies since 1880, Kaye is the fourth most given (7.0% of them). In 2025 it was given to 18 of their 2,727 babies (<1%), the eighth most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Kaye
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Kaye and names like it
- Compare Kaye and KayBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1940sKaye peaked in 1947.
- Michigan’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kaye since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Kaye: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1947The year the most babies were named Kaye.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Kaye alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with KMost given first.